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Month: November 2013

(Note: This review contains spoilers for the first movie but nothing major for the sequel.)

The Hunger Games movies represent a rarity among Hollywood franchises: uncommonly intelligent and socially conscious, littered with terrific performances and supported by unobtrusive special effects. Director Gary Ross’ original is far from perfect, but it provides a compelling introduction to a post-apocalyptic world rife with commentary that rings true in our present moment, and Jennifer Lawrence’s capable lead performance provides an unconventional and appealing lens for exploring media manipulation, reality television constructs, cultures of violence and oppressive powers. Though Ross’ directorial ineptitude skewers the numerous action sequences and the PG-13 rating limits the onscreen bloodshed to the point of desensitization, The Hunger Games asks questions that other blockbusters, especially ones based on popular novels for young people, wouldn’t dare touch.

Not caught up on the latest happenings in and around Hollywood? Fear not, because my Take 5 columns will catch you up in no time. Since September, we’ve lost two major pop culture icons in Tom Clancy and Lou Reed. We’ve ushered Breaking Bad off our television screens, replacing it with tons and tons of new fall shows, most of which aren’t as good as Breaking Bad. We’ve been graced with tons of compelling new music, from pop superstars like Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus to promising newcomers like Lorde and HAIM. We’ve come to terms with the breakup of the Jonas Brothers, but we’re not quite over talking about Chris Brown‘s depressing antics.

And I’ve been taking notes. Read on for the last seven editions of Take 5.

Even though I live-blogged the entire three-hour behemoth last night, I have lots to say about the 2013 American Music Awards. The live-blog format is necessarily limiting, and I’ve revised or expanded many of my opinions since the show aired. With that in mind, here are three big takeaways from this awards show (one of the silliest around, don’t forget.)

Welcome to the M&M Report once again! This week, Devin and I started with a special guest: Alex Patel, also known as my roommate and a fellow podcast host. Alex and I talked about our love for the Comedy Central sketch show Key and Peele and Devin realized that he wants to watch this show more regularly.

After we said goodbye to Alex, I talked about my underwhelming experience with Thor: The Dark World, which led into a conversation about the state of Hollywood blockbusters. Are they really dead? What can “save” them? Do they need saving? We tackled all of those questions and more.

Finally, the claws came out during a discussion of Kanye West, inspired by the release of his baffling music video for “Bound 2.” Kanye’s a controversial guy, and we had some controversial opinions.

We’ll be taking a break next week so you can enjoy your turkeys and pumpkin pies in peace. We’ll be back two weeks from today with a discussion of the new Coen Brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis among other topics. Also, we haven’t forgotten about Devin Doesn’t Like Things – it will be back in full force before you know it.

As always, thanks for listening. We’ve really enjoyed experimenting with this podcast over the last 11 weeks, and we’re very grateful for everyone who listens. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Sleazier than the Grammys, stuffier than the VMAs, less legitimate than either one, The American Music Awards are the unfortunate middle child of music awards shows. The only time anyone cares how many American Music Awards an artist has won is during the American Music Awards. This is the show that gave us David Hasselhoff dancing to LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” in 2011 and crowned Justin Bieber the 2012 Artist of the Year. In other words, don’t expect high art.

And yet – the American Music Awards are a fun, if frustrating, thermometer for the current temperature of popular music. Last year’s show brought us Carly Rae Jepsen and PSY, but also Taylor Swift and Stevie Wonder. You have to take the good with the bad.

Whether the awards mean anything or not (they don’t), the show should provide some interesting moments. Will Justin Timberlake do something unexpected to cap off his busy year, or will he rest on his laurels? Will Miley Cyrus descend further into mayhem or restrain herself? Will Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line demonstrate why they’re country’s two hottest superstars right now, or will they continue to make us wish for Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert instead?

Follow along starting at 8pm Eastern for my reviews of each performance on the American Music Awards, airing on ABC.

In this week’s episode of Parenthood, Crosby Braverman (Dax Shepard) bribed a man to vote for his candidate after finding out that he couldn’t register to vote on Election Day. The real fraud in this season of NBC’s ratings-starved family drama, though, has been everything involving Christina Braverman’s monumentally implausible bid for mayor of Berkeley, California. From her discombobulated campaign strategy to her questionable motives, this storyline reeked of transparent manipulation and lacked the unvarnished realism of the show’s previous high points.

“Election Day” resolved this storyline, which has been careening towards a particularly unsustainable outcome all season. How did Jason Katims and his writers choose to conclude the Berkeley mayoral race? Read on to find out.

I might be a little biased, in that Taylor Swift is one of my personal favorite artists and Jody Rosen is one of my personal favorite music writers, but I can’t think of a better piece of pop-culture journalism/criticism all year than Rosen’s profile of Swift, which is on the cover of New York magazine this week and debuted on the Internet Sunday night. Here are three reasons this lengthy profile is worth your time – even if you’re a T-Swift hater. (Also, shame on you.)